Terms of Use

1. Scope and provider

These Terms of Use govern the relationship between you as a user and the provider of the game “Wortgewandt” (the “Service”). The provider is:

wortgewandt-spiel - Frank NO-SPAM-PLEASE Kuc sur2hta
c/o Online-Impressum #8734
Europaring 90
53757 St Augustin
Germany
E-mnonoail: wortgewandt.no-bots-spiel.invalid@realares.isat-rap.de

They apply to every way of accessing the Service: the web version at wortgewandt-spiel.de, the Steam desktop app, the game as an OBS browser source and the Twitch game mode. Deviating terms of the user do not apply unless their application has been expressly agreed to in text form.

The terms of the platforms through which you use the Service apply in addition – in particular the Terms of Service and Community Guidelines of Twitch as well as the Steam Terms of Service of Valve Corporation. We do not enforce those terms ourselves, but we moderate the Service along comparable lines.

This English text is a convenience translation. The legally binding version is the German one, available at /agb. In the event of any discrepancy, the German version prevails.

2. Description of the Service

Wortgewandt is a word guessing game. The Service provides in particular the following features:

• single-player games as well as multiplayer rounds in rooms that other players join using a room code;
• a free-text chat in the local game (“app chat”) that players use to submit guesses and to write to each other;
• the Twitch game mode, in which guesses are read from the chat of a connected Twitch channel;
• scores, achievements, leaderboards and public player profiles;
• moderation tools for the host of a room (hiding messages, muting, blocking).

The scope of features is continuously developed further. There is no entitlement to the continued existence of individual features; section 14 remains unaffected.

3. Conclusion of the contract, account and guest access

The contract of use is concluded when you access the Service and start using it, at the latest when you connect your Twitch or Steam account. By using the Service you accept these Terms of Use.

Some features – such as persistent statistics, achievements and public profiles – require you to sign in. This is done via your Twitch account (OAuth) or via the Steam app. We neither issue nor store a separate password; details are set out in the privacy policy.

Depending on the host’s settings you may also take part in multiplayer rounds as a guest without signing in. Guest access does not establish a persistent identity; the rules of conduct in sections 6 to 9 apply to guests in the same way.

You are obliged to keep the credentials of the connected accounts confidential and to inform us without undue delay if there are indications that your access is being misused. You are responsible for actions carried out through your access to the extent that you are answerable for them.

4. Minimum age

The Service is aimed at persons aged 13 and over. Minors require the consent of their legal guardians. The age requirements of the respective platform apply in addition when connecting a Twitch or Steam account. We reserve the right to block access where there are justified doubts about the minimum age.

5. Costs, purchases via Steam

Use of the Service is free of charge unless expressly stated otherwise. You bear the costs of your internet connection and of the hardware and software you use.

Paid content (e.g. the game or additional content on Steam) is sold through the respective platform. The contractual partner for such a purchase is the platform operator (for Steam: Valve Corporation); its terms and its payment, withdrawal and refund rules take precedence. We cannot issue refunds ourselves.

A suspension imposed under these Terms of Use does not affect platform licences you have already acquired; it may, however, mean that the online features of the Service can no longer be used. This does not give rise to a claim for a refund where the suspension is based on a breach for which you are answerable.

6. Free-text chat and multiplayer – basic rules

A free-text chat is available in the local game. Messages written there are visible to everyone in the room – in public rooms and when streaming, additionally to a potentially large audience unknown to you, for example as an overlay in a live stream. Treat the chat as a public statement.

You alone are responsible for the content you post in the chat, use as a display name or submit as a guess. You warrant that you are entitled to use that content and that it violates neither applicable law nor the rights of third parties nor these Terms of Use.

The chat serves the shared game. We expect people to treat each other with respect. Disagreement is no licence for personal attacks.

7. Prohibited content and conduct

It is prohibited in particular to distribute content or engage in conduct – in the chat, in display names, in room designations or anywhere else in the Service – that

• violates the law – in particular incitement to hatred (section 130 of the German Criminal Code, StGB), the use of symbols of unconstitutional organisations (section 86a StGB), insult, defamation and slander (sections 185–187 StGB), threats (section 241 StGB), coercion as well as inciting or providing instructions for criminal offences (sections 111, 130a StGB);
• is hateful or discriminatory, i.e. demeans others on the basis of ethnic origin, skin colour, national origin, religion, belief, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, serious illness, social origin or age;
• harasses, intimidates or bullies – this includes personal attacks, persistent stalking, inciting others against individual players and deliberately disrupting rounds;
• is sexualised or sexually harassing – unwanted innuendo, remarks about other people’s bodies, pornographic content or links to it. Any sexualisation of minors results in a permanent ban without prior warning and is reported to the competent authorities;
• threatens or glorifies violence, supports or calls for terrorism or violent extremism;
• glorifies, instructs in or encourages self-harm or suicide. If you are struggling: in Germany, Telefonseelsorge can be reached around the clock free of charge on 0800 111 0 111 and 0800 111 0 222;
• discloses personal data of third parties (“doxxing”) – such as real names, addresses, phone numbers, employers or private images without consent;
• constitutes spam, advertising or fraud – bulk messages, chain letters, unsolicited self-promotion, phishing, pyramid schemes, links to malware or to offers intended to deceive others;
• impersonates someone else – for example posing as another player, as a moderator, as an employee of Twitch or Steam, or as the provider of this Service;
• infringes the rights of third parties, in particular copyright, trade mark and personality rights;
• circumvents the word filter or moderation measures – for example by deliberate obfuscation (“leetspeak”, interspersed special characters, spelling words out letter by letter) or by moving to other channels of the Service;
• manipulates the game – automation, bots, scripts, exploiting program errors, deliberately revealing solutions in order to disrupt others, as well as attacks on the availability or integrity of the Service;
• circumvents an existing suspension – for example via a second account, guest access or a changed display name.

This list gives examples and is not exhaustive. What matters is the evident purpose of the rule: a game everyone involved can take part in without fear or humiliation.

8. Display names

The display name used in the chat can be chosen freely, but is subject to the same rules as chat content. Names that are insulting, hateful, sexualised or misleading, that infringe the rights of third parties or that impersonate someone else are not permitted. We reserve the right to reset inadmissible display names or to refuse participation.

9. Responsibility of the host

Anyone hosting a round shares responsibility for their own room. The following tools are available to the host: hiding chat lines, muting players and blocking players; for signed-in players a block remains in effect beyond the current session.

Hosts are expected to counter evident violations in their room to a reasonable extent. Anyone who tolerates, encourages or themselves calls for violations in their room breaches these Terms of Use and must expect measures under section 11. A host who evidently moderates in good faith need not fear measures because of third-party content in their room.

In the Twitch game mode, the rules and moderation tools of Twitch additionally apply to the channel chat. We have no influence on how they are applied.

10. Word filter, logging, no prior review

To protect fellow players we use an automatic word filter in the free-text chat. Detected terms are masked in the display; the hit is logged together with the raw message, the game session and, where available, the accounts involved. The log serves exclusively to detect abuse and to enforce these Terms of Use. Details of the processing can be found in the privacy policy.

The filter is an auxiliary measure and can detect violations neither completely nor without error. The fact that a message passes the filter does not mean that its content is permissible. Conversely, masking alone does not in itself constitute a sanction.

No general prior review of user content takes place; there is also no obligation to carry one out under sections 7 to 10 of the German Digital Services Act (DDG). As soon as we become aware of unlawful content, we remove it or block access to it without undue delay.

11. Measures in the event of violations

In the event of a breach of these Terms of Use – in particular of section 7 – we may, depending on severity, intent and repetition, take one or more of the following measures:

• a notice or a warning;
• masking, hiding or deleting individual messages;
• a temporary mute in the chat;
• removal from a running round or from a room;
• withdrawal of the free-text chat – the game remains usable, but you can no longer send chat messages of your own;
• exclusion from the multiplayer features – no longer joining or hosting rooms;
• removal of entries from leaderboards and public profiles;
• temporary or permanent suspension of the account and of the access associated with it.

These measures may also be taken alongside one another and without a prior warning where this is necessary to protect other users. In the case of serious violations – in particular sexualised content relating to minors, serious threats of violence as well as terrorist content or incitement to hatred – the permanent suspension takes effect immediately and without warning.

We select the measure taking your legitimate interests into account and limit it to what is necessary. Where a means of contact is available, we inform you of a suspension and state the reason for it.

We may report criminal offences and transmit the necessary data to the competent authorities. The right to terminate for cause under section 16 and claims for damages remain unaffected.

12. Reporting violations, objecting to measures

You can report violations to us at any time by e-mail to the address given in section 1. It helps to state the room or channel concerned, the time, the display name of the person involved and, where available, evidence. We review reports promptly and inform you of the outcome where this is legally permissible and factually possible.

If you consider a measure taken against you to be unjustified, you may object to it informally by e-mail within six months. We review the objection, inform you of the outcome and lift the measure if the allegation is not confirmed. Your right to take legal action remains unaffected.

13. Rights in submitted content

The rights in the content you submit within the Service remain with you. You grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free right, limited to the operation of the Service, to store and reproduce that content and to display it to the other participants of the respective round – to the extent necessary for operating the Service, for display in the game and for moderation.

You are aware that, when used in streaming, chat content becomes part of the host’s broadcast and may be recorded and further distributed by them. We have no influence over this.

14. Availability and changes to the Service

We endeavour to keep the Service running as smoothly as possible, but we do not owe any particular level of availability. Maintenance work, technical faults and outages at upstream providers (hosting, Twitch, Steam) may lead to interruptions.

We may develop the Service further and change or discontinue individual features to the extent that this is reasonable for you. We will announce a complete discontinuation of the Service with reasonable notice where this is possible and reasonable.

15. Liability

We are liable without limitation in cases of intent and gross negligence, for the fraudulent concealment of defects, for injury to life, body or health, within the scope of a guarantee given and under the German Product Liability Act.

In the case of a slightly negligent breach of a material contractual obligation – that is, an obligation whose fulfilment makes the proper performance of the contract possible in the first place and on whose observance you may regularly rely – our liability is limited to the foreseeable damage typical for this type of contract. Liability is otherwise excluded.

We are not liable for content submitted by other users or for the content of linked third-party offerings; sections 7 to 10 DDG apply. We are liable for the loss of data only to the extent that the loss would also have occurred had data been backed up properly and regularly.

If you culpably breach section 7 and a third party therefore takes action against us, you shall indemnify us against the justified claims arising from this, including the necessary costs of legal defence.

16. Term, termination, deletion of the account

The contract of use runs for an indefinite period. You may end it at any time without notice by ceasing to use the Service, disconnecting your Twitch account or requesting the deletion of your account by e-mail.

We may terminate the contract ordinarily giving 14 days’ notice. The right to terminate for cause remains unaffected; cause exists in particular in the case of a serious or repeated breach of section 7. For the retention of data after the contract ends, see the privacy policy.

17. Changes to these Terms of Use

We may amend these Terms of Use where this is necessary because of further development of the Service, because of changes in the law or in case law, or in order to close a gap in the provisions, and where this does not unreasonably disadvantage you. We will announce material changes within the Service with reasonable lead time. If you continue using the Service after the changes take effect, the amended terms are deemed accepted; otherwise you may end the contract in accordance with section 16. The current version is always available at /terms.

18. Final provisions

The law of the Federal Republic of Germany applies, excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. If you are a consumer with your habitual residence in another state, the mandatory consumer protection provisions of that state remain unaffected.

The European Commission provides a platform for online dispute resolution: https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/ . We are neither willing nor obliged to take part in dispute resolution proceedings before a consumer arbitration board.

Should any provision of these Terms of Use be or become invalid, the validity of the remaining provisions remains unaffected.